12 Best Scanner Software For Mac Users
Remember the days when we used to rush to an internet cafe in order to get some documents or papers scanned? Well, those are a thing of the past because of the variety of scanner software for Mac available today.
With time, scanning has become more accessible to people, and with the trend of online learning and work from home offices, it has become a necessity.
With the increasing number of scanner applications, it has become easier to convert your files into scanned documents and edit them.
However, it is a tough task to choose the best scanner software for Mac for yourself. I have simplified this task for you by making a list of the best ones available for mac. Have a look!
Best Scanner Software For Mac Users
1. Abbyy FineReader
Next on our list of the best scanner software for Mac is Abbyy. It is responsible for a variety of corporate-based applications, including its document processing platform, FineReader.
You can use this program to edit, examine, secure, analyze, and convert PDFs and scanned documents.
It provides a free seven-day trial before the subscription, so you can get used to the application and have a hands-on experience before purchasing its subscription.
It is nice because subscribing to Abbyy FineReader demands a hefty sum of money.
It has many utility features that help you manage your scans and edit your files to improve their quality.
It has a Compare feature that assists you in identifying text variations across multiple versions of the same file.
This saves a lot of time because you do not have to proofread and back-check various versions.
The OCR technology of FineReader is considered the best in the world because of the numerous improvements there have been over the years.
It guarantees you a high level of accuracy when it comes to scanning documents and images and creating searchable PDFs.
Overall, Abbyy FineReader is one of the best scanner software for Mac if you are willing to pay the hefty price it demands.
Features:
- It has a simple user interface.
- It includes a batch processing feature.
- It has the best OCR technology.
2. SilverFast
SilverFast is a decent scanner software for Mac that allows you to scan both documents and images. It provides you with compatibility with over three hundred and forty different scanners, and the quality of scans is excellent.
It also adjusts itself according to the lighting conditions and picks the best scanner out of its vast library. The text is sharp, and the colors in images are not distorted.
The unique ability of this application is that it can read data and text directly from your phone’s camera and then analyze them instantly on your Mac. SilverFast is undoubtedly one of the best photo scanner software for Mac.
Features:
- It is reliable and has a simple user interface.
- It has an excellent color calibration.
- The quality of scans is excellent.
3. Readiris
Next on our list of the best scanner software for Mac is Readiris. Readiris is available in three bundles, with the basic enabling annotations and remarks, in-text and voice, and merging and compressing choices to speed up document scanning.
Readiris is a scanner software for Mac that uses OCR technology to collect and transform your documents into editable files. It can understand the text from nearly thirty languages across the globe.
You may use the tool to convert PDFs, images, and text from a picture or scanned document into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. Readiris, like its higher-level rivals, allows you to highlight files and offer remarks, making the platform suited for collaboration during the scanning and conversion process.
It also has audio capabilities since papers and books may be turned into MP3 and Wmv files, allowing you to digest materials without giving trouble to your eyes.
You can even record audio remarks, omitting the reading and writing procedure of editing entirely if desired.
Readiris also offers a Pro version. It supports over a hundred languages and has more advanced editing and modification tools.
There is a business edition of Readiris that includes business tools like e-signature, batch processing, password protection, and archiving features.
Overall, Readiris is a fantastic scanner software for Mac.
Features:
- It is affordable.
- It lets you convert your text files to audio.
- It has handy collaboration features.
4. Adobe Acrobat DC
For many years, the term PDF has been synonymous with Adobe. Suppose there is a firm that knows how to work with documents and text files, Adobe. You can be assured of all your PDF and scanning work when it comes to the Adobe Acrobat DC.
Almost everyone has used the ever-popular Adobe Acrobat Reader for opening a PDF at least once in their lifetime. That is how famous Adobe is when it comes to documents.
The DC in Adobe Acrobat DC stands for Document Cloud. The platform enables you to produce PDFs from virtually any source, including Microsoft Office apps, your device’s camera when you are out and around, web pages, and even fragmented emails, spreadsheets, and documents that can be combined and organized into a single PDF file.
For security, you get the option to put passcodes and permission grants on your files. It lets you keep a standardized layout so that your work seems to be coherent. Also, it enables you to annotate your files anywhere.
The more advanced features of Adobe Acrobat DC include a comparing feature that lets you note the variations in different versions of a document. You can convert your scans into PDF and vice versa.
Also, it is compatible with all primary cloud services like iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Adobe Cloud Storage. Thus, storing your files is not an issue.
Overall, it is the best scanner software for Mac. Scanning your paper is only the beginning of using Adobe Acrobat. Still, like so many Adobe technologies, this platform is not cheap.
Features:
- It is the most trusted brand in terms of document handling.
- It has a plethora of features.
- Sharing your files is easy.
5. VueScan
VueScan is often regarded as one of the best scanner software for Mac. A significant reason for this claim is because it brings Mac compatibility to over six thousand scanners that function on Windows or Linux.
VueScan lets you convert your scans to various file formats like JPG, PDF, and TIFF. It is such a powerful application that, in addition to documents and images, you can even scan videos via this app.
It has a straightforward user interface that is beginner-friendly. Though it has a lot of options, it is never difficult to find them and understand their usage. It scans documents with a great sense of accuracy.
Overall, it is undoubtedly amongst the top scanner software for Mac. It has a vast customer base and users tend to enjoy the ease of scanning provided by VueScan. Also, it keeps your scans safe because it does not upload them to any server of its own.
Features:
- You can work on various file formats.
- It is beginner-friendly.
- It is trendy and has a vast customer base.
6. Doc Scanner
Next on the list of the best scanner software for Mac is the Doc Scanner application. As its name implies, Doc Scanner scans anything, be it your documents, visiting cards, envelopes, bill, research papers, or even a photograph.
It even lets you improve the quality of your existing scans via filters and other modification tools. It can convert images to PDFs and vice versa as well.
Thus, if you have an old photograph, you can convert it into PDF, edit and improve its quality by the various editing tools provided by Doc Scanner, and convert them back into image files.
You can also add e-signatures to your scans. This makes submitting online forms easy. You can also convert image files into documents by picking out the text present on them using Doc Scanner’s OCR technology.
After you are done with your work and think that your scan is perfect, you can upload it on any cloud service, share it directly through WhatsApp, or submit your assignment on Google Classroom. The in-built share feature provides you with all the possible options for sharing your file.
Overall, Doc Scanner is a powerful tool for scanning files on your Mac. It is the best free scanner software for Mac.
Features:
- It is perfect for office purposes.
- It is beginner-friendly.
- It is free of cost.
7. PDF Scanner
PDF Scanner is a pretty simple application. Its task is explained by its name only. The sole purpose of this application is to make scanning and saving your documents as straightforward and fast as it can get.
Away from the realm of complexities, this scanner software for Mac can perform OCR scans and add recognized text as an invisible layer straight to scanned photos. The document is also searchable and appears rapidly in Spotlight searches.
It lets you delete and reorder the pages before saving the file. You can also straighten out skewed pages before finally exporting your PDF.
If all you need is an application that can make quick and good quality scans and offers you some quick editing options like reordering and changing orientation.
Features:
- Supports a variety of languages for OCR scanning.
- It can produce searchable PDFs.
- It is a perfect application if you need a quick scanner app.
8. ExactScan
ExactScan is another excellent scanner software for Mac. It is continually trying to make office and school work paperless by letting you scan, sort, edit, and save your papers and scans properly.
It is a powerful scanner software that can analyze and scan over a hundred and fifty documents simultaneously. All the scans are tagged.
Thus, you can effortlessly search text on the scans. It supports a variety of formats like JPEG, PDF, PNG, and BMG, to name a few.
A striking feature of ExactScan is that it lets you create multiple profiles for multiple users who use the application.
Thus, you can be assured that your work does not get lost in a pile of scanned documents in case different users are using the software.
ExactScan makes maintaining your scans a walk in the park. It supports a clean color backdrop, which provides a soothing look and reduces the file size without compromising on its quality.
Overall, ExactScan is one of the best scanner software for Mac, especially for students and office colleagues, because it helps you in managing and sorting your scans as well.
Features:
- It provides a comfortable editing experience.
- It automatically detects and deletes blank pages.
- It is a heavy-duty scanner application made for business purposes.
9. Twain Sane
Twain Sane is not standalone software. It is meant to be used within some other application. It has a straightforward user interface, along with a lot of features.
It is compatible with most other image-focused software. Twain Sane offers excellent compatibility with Word, Excel, Image Capture, and Graphic Converter.
It lets you scan papers through a wide variety of scanners that are included in the SANE backend library. Overall, it is a decent scanner software for Mac.
Features:
- It provides an effortless scanning experience.
- It offers a vast range of scanners.
- It is easy to use and beginner-friendly.
10. PDFpen
PDFpen is an OCR-based scanner software for Mac. It is mainly meant to convert PDFs and their modifications rather than scanning. Still, the accuracy and quality of scanning are excellent.
PDFpen works on the Kofax OmniPage OCR engine. Thus, high-quality scanning results are achieved. Since Kofax is exclusively for Windows, you can get the benefits of Kofax OCR by using PDFpen on Mac.
It is a cloud-based service that uploads all your scans on Kofax’s servers, so you should be careful while scanning any legal or confidential papers. Although Kofax is safe, precaution is always better.
The application supports all primary languages from across the globe. It also provides you an option to edit, modify, and annotate your scans. It also has built-in tools to improve the quality of your scans and lighten up the PDFs by varying their contrast.
Overall, PDFpen is an excellent scanner software for Mac. It offers superb value for money and is a serious competitor to the Adobe Acrobat Pro. There is also a more advanced version of PDFpen, PDFpen pro.
It is costlier but provides additional features such as compatibility with Microsoft Excel the capability to create and modify forms and save web pages as PDFs.
It is one of the finest scanner software for Mac if you have a low budget. However, it is not as powerful as the Adobe Acrobat Pro, especially when it comes to scanning images. It is a decent application to get the job done.
Features:
- It allows you to edit PDFs instantly.
- It brings the Kofax OCR engine experience to Mac.
- It is affordable.
11. PDF Studio
Next on our list of the best scanner software for Mac is PDF Studio. It is primarily a PDF editing tool that can also be used to create PDFs by scanning your documents. PDF Studio provides a wide range of functions and tools that can be used to create and modify your PDF scans.
PDF Studio allows you to manage your documents by letting you assemble, annotate, and tag your documents. It also lets you convert your scans into different formats.
You do not have to worry about your file’s privacy because of the password protection that this software provides.
Also, you can add and save your signatures on this software. By this, you will be able to sign your documents quickly, saving precious time.
PDF Studio allows batch processing. Thus, you can work on a lot of documents simultaneously. You can convert your PDFs to Word, PNG, JPG, and even Excel files.
It also lets you edit any PDF, and not just the ones you have scanned through this app. It ensures your privacy by various methods like passcodes, encryption, permissions, and by managing digital IDs and certificates.
PDF Studio also provides a powerful PDF editor tool. You can modify the text, change the font, and add images, watermarks, and graphics.
Another fantastic feature of PDF Studio is its OCR scanner. It works flawlessly and can extract text from images with a high grade of accuracy.
You can also merge and split your PDFs and add headers or footers with this application. The compare feature lets you compare your PDFs. Thus, it saves time while proofreading your files.
PDF Studio provides two subscription modes, Standard and Pro. The Standard version costs a little less than the Pro version.
The Pro version provides some advanced tools that are not present in the Standard version. Both versions require a single payment and offer you lifetime support.
Overall, PDF Studio is a fantastic application that you can use to work with your scans. It is one of the best scanner software for Mac in terms of the functions it provides for its price.
Features:
- The OCR scanner works flawlessly.
- It offers you a powerful PDF editor.
- You can encrypt your files and add passwords.
- It provides great value for money.
12. Picatext
Picatext is a straightforward and easy-to-use tool that works fine with images if you want a cheap OCR app. It is ideal for scanning and picking out text from photos and screenshots.
It delivers excellent results, and the accuracy is high when it comes to picking out text from images. Picatext supports and comprehends text from nearly forty languages, assuring you that there will be no dialect issue.
However, there are a few disadvantages of using this application. Picatext does not function well with images of low quality and fancy font styles like italics. It works only with image file formats and not PDFs. Also, it can handle only a single image at a time.
Overall, Picatext is a decent photo scanner software for Mac that can deliver excellent results, conditions applied. It is meant for a specific customer base who do not want to work with PDFs and just need to select and copy text present in the image.
Features:
- The OCR engine is excellent.
- It has a simple user interface.
- It is highly affordable.
Conclusion
Thus, my list of the best scanner software for Mac ends here. If you have read this article till here, you probably know the best application for yourself. I have covered freemium as well as paid applications along with a short description of each.
There are many different kinds of applications included in the list, depending upon the need of the user. People generally do not know which application to pay for and they end up purchasing an unsuitable application. Thus, you should be careful while paying for your scanner app.
I hope you find this article helpful and will share this with your colleagues and friends.
